MTN Group today announced the appointment of Babak Fouladi as Group Executive: Technology and Information Systems.

In a statement MTN said Fouladi will temporarily assume responsibility for the vacant CTO role in MTN South Africa, until a permanent appointment is finalised, and lead the delivery of the company's network and IT strategy across the Group.

"Fouladi is a senior executive with global experience in the telecommunications, media and ICT sectors. He is highly skilled at building and leading strong teams to drive and implement strategic concepts and deliver networks, complex systems and applications," MTN stated.

He joins MTN from Vodafone Spain, where he was Chief Technology Officer for the past three years. He held a similar role at Vodafone Romania, before moving to Spain.

Prior to joining Vodafone, Fouladi worked for Ericsson in a number of senior management roles, the latest as Vice President, Multimedia and System Integration at Ericsson Russia.

Fouladi is a graduate of George Washington University (USA), where he obtained a Master of Science Degree, Magna Cum Laude (Information Management) and a Bachelor of Science Degree, Cum Laude in Electrical Engineering, according to MTN.